


A Sacrifice

by SpacegirlRoxy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Amputation, Angst, Anxiety, Burns, Explosions, Graphic Description, Hospitalization, Loss of Limbs, M/M, Multi, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Relationship(s), Scars, Suffering, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-13 14:09:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11761545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpacegirlRoxy/pseuds/SpacegirlRoxy
Summary: Lance cares more about his teammates than himself. This leads to plenty of incidents, on a mission to contact an advanced race of aliens he attempts to help Hunk, leading to disaster.





	1. To Lose

**Author's Note:**

> Posting this to see if people like the idea of it. Later chapters will be much longer, this is just an intro.

The first time Lance had felt like he truly saved someone was when he protected Coran from the explosion that engulfed the Castles crystal. Since that incident, he had managed to pull even more stunts to protect his team and the innocents that were caught up in the war. Much to the protest of those around him who cared for him of course, and he ended up with a few scars over time that ruined his perfect complexion to show for his actions.

But despite the marks left on him Shiro and Keith still told him he was the most beautiful boy they’d met, they’d hooked up after a while and besides the teasing, the rest of the team constantly gave him, he had never felt happier with the way things were going.

Allura had dispatched them with the Blades of Marmora to a planet inhabited by a technologically advanced race that had been able to keep the Galra off their world for the past 10,000 years with extreme prejudice. They were to establish contact and form an alliance with the race known as the Vinisians.

“Pidge, anything on the Radar?” Shiro calls over the comms, the team was entering the atmosphere and had established visual of the city. It was all skyscrapers for miles, the city must have been bigger than any on Earth.

“Nothing so far, there might be an offensive jammer down on the planet, that might be why we couldn’t get a message through to them”. The tension was high and the team could only hope things sailed smoothly.

“Hunk buddy, you doin alright?” Lance quipped, noticing the yellow paladin making some anxious sounds.

“I dunno man, this just doesn’t feel right, why haven’t they opened comms with us yet?” He stutters out.

Lance went back to flying towards the city, focusing on covering the yellow Lion, which carried the Blades of Marmora with it just in case anything went wrong. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted a bright light and only had a moment to dive his Lion in front of Hunks-

“Incoming! Evasive Mane-” *BLAM*

Something shot straight into the hull of Blue, making a massive impact and leaving Lance's head pounding, he swerved away as the other Paladins sped up and went off in different directions, he attempted to maintain control and was having only a few problems before he heard a hissing noise. What came next was a flash of light from behind accompanied by an intense heat surrounding him. He only heard one thing before blacking out.

“Lance!”

 

The rest of the Paladins watched in horror as the cockpit of Blue burst in a cascade of flames. The Lion plummeted to the ground and the other Paladins pursued her down. They landed in the outskirts of the city, the wreckage of the Blue Lion had small fires but it appeared the explosion was not incendiary based.

“Fuck!” Keith cried out, having made it down first he ran into the wreckage, entering the Lion through the massive hole in her hull. “Lance? Can you hear me?!” He shouts as he rushes into the cockpit with wreckage crunching underneath his feet, he turns a corner and what he sees makes him freeze, he can only stare at the scene before he ran towards it “No, no no no!”

Shiro enters the wreckage last, having been the furthest away. He hears crying and sprints to the cockpit. “What’s going on?” He asks, looking at the rest of the Paladins, Pidge and Hunk were stood around Keith who had Lance in his arms, there was blood all over him and his Paladin armor was completely obliterated from the back.

“Keith is he-” Shiro realizes then, and can only stare like the others. "Sh-Shiro, he's barely breathing" Keith heaves out, his breathing erratic. Tears start to roll down Shiro's face as Allura picks up over the comms, “Paladins, what happened? We’ve suddenly established contact with the Vinisians and they told us they shot a Lion down thinking it was Galra!”

Shiro backed out of the cockpit before replying “Lance has been severely wounded, we need to get him medical attention now!”


	2. New Experiences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance wakes up, he feels different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the feedback! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last. <3

_*Beep, Beep, Beep*_

Lance let out a grunt as he shifted, he was in a bed of some sort, and everything was so sore. He could barely move, and his eyesight was entirely blurred.

“Man, I’ve got a killer headache” He mumbles, trying to come back to his senses he sits up slightly and attempts to gather his surroundings. He was in a room that looked nothing like any room at the castle. There was medical equipment surrounding him and he couldn’t really get a good look in front of him, the pillow under his head only giving him a glimpse of what looked like some figures moving towards him.

“Lance, you’re awake!” He hears from what sounds like Keith, and decides immediately is way too loud for how he feels.

“Shush up, my heads killing me dude” He mutters as he puts a hand against his forehead, was his hair a little longer? He felt at it and definitely didn’t remember his hair being this long last time he styled it.

Keith moves swiftly to his side, standing next to Lance’s bed and smiling like the huge dork he was, despite his rude awakening this still brought a small warmth to Lance’s heart.

“Man, I must’ve taken it hard, what happened? I can barely remember.” He asks seeing someone else rushing to him.

“Lance!” Shiro shouted before both Keith and Lance shushed him, Shiro slowed and stopped to look Lance in the eyes.

“Lance, I’m so glad you’re okay… How are you feeling?” Keith asks, moving to put a hand on the bed next to Lance’s. Lance smiles and takes it in his own hand.

“Like I just got hit by a car and then set on fire honestly” He quips with a slight grunt as he attempts to sit up a little further, but before he can Keith stops him.

“Lance there’s something we should tell you, Shiro could you explain to him what happened?” Keith says, Lance notices the seriousness in his tone and stops before turning to Shiro.

“Shiro… What’s going on?” He asks, he saw Shiro shift slightly. Lance thought he looked slightly uncomfortable. Shiro reaches out and puts his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“There was an accident, the Vinisian’s had an automatic targeting system that was set up to identify and take down ships with Galra onboard, that’s why it fired at Hunk, but you saved them Lance” Shiro explains, while he does this Lance feels Keith reaching down to grasp his hand, rubbing a soothing thumb over it as Lance takes it all in.

“Oh wow, so If we didn’t bring the Blades we’d be fine? How ironic is that” He begins to chuckle and pats the bed “Sit down with me Shiro, I’m just glad to see you again”

Shiro heaves himself up and onto the bed reaching over and cupping Lance’s face with his human hand. Lance gives him a bright smile, but wow he seems awfully close, how is he not sitting on my legs? Lance pulls himself up slightly with Shiro's arm and looks himself over, he feels dread suddenly fill his entire body and he grips onto Shiro.

“S-Shiro, no no” he stutters before the two realize what had come over Lance, Shiro swooped in and cradled Lance, disconnecting him from all the medical equipment, while Keith started saying comforting things and getting up to sit behind Lance, putting a comforting hand on his back.

“Lance it’s okay, everything's alright. You’re here with us and you’re safe now. Just breathe for me okay?” He reaches over and grabs something, handing it to Shiro.

“Lance, I’m going to give you some anxiety medications, is that okay?” Shiro asks gently, the shaking boy in his arms holding on tight and nodding. Tears were pouring down his face and he could barely contain the sobs that were coming uncontrollably.

With a quick motion, Shiro gives Lance the pills and puts a water pouch to his lips, letting him drink as the two continued to comfort him.

Lance stops drinking and hiccups, reaching out to hold Keith's hand as he leans into Shiro’s touch.

“How… Why… I’m scared” Lance begins rambling and Shiro runs a hand through his hair, waiting until he feels Lance’s body stop shaking as much. “I know you’re scared… But you were in a coma Lance, the wounds from the accident have all healed. But even with their technology the Vinisians couldn’t save them without your consent, they would have had to use implants and it’s against their code to work on nonconsenting patients. I’m sorry Lance, we tried everything”.

Lance continued to stare, where his legs had been there were now short stumps, both of them were gone and they both still hurt, he could feel them as if they were still there and it made anxiety course through him. He wanted it to stop, it was so cruel of his body to make him think that they had still been there.

“Shiro, why can I feel them?” He sobs out, Shiro recognized what he was saying immediately “I know Lance, it’s okay. I felt it too, it’s going to be okay. You have us, you have the others. We’ll help you through this”. He says soothingly, running a hand down Lance’s back, he can feel the scar that had formed there and knew Lance would hate it.

Some Vinisians run in and examine the situation, keeping a close eye on the three while they went to do something with the machines that had been taking Lance’s vitals.

Lance sat in Shiro's arms for what felt like forever. He was scared and in pain, how was he going to be any use to Voltron now?

Eventually Lance’s breathing returned to a lowered state, but despite that he still felt even number than before. How was he going to recover from this? He had made a split second decision and now he had crippled himself. But he had saved his best friend and one of their strongest allies.

 

After a few more minutes one of the Vinisians approached the bed and left some sort of tablet next to him, Keith picked it up and read it over while Shiro laid him back down on the bed, running a hand through his hair and with a sigh Keith put down the tablet, looking up at Lance.

“Lance... the vinisians want to offer you cybernetic replacements for your legs… Is this something you want?”

The two of them looked at Lance for confirmation, hoping he would choose whatever made him happiest.

With a sigh, Lance looks to Keith “I have to, for Voltron, for my family, for the Universe” Lance says, the confidence in his voice doesn’t waiver.

Keith nodded and walked off to talk to the Vinisians. Shiro held out his Galran arm, letting Lance take it in his own and smiling

“Thank you Shiro, we can do this…”

He wasn’t really sure if he could do this.


	3. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance isn't alone, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the support! For my first fanfic this has gotten amazing feedback <3

After a while, Keith finished talking to the doctors and returned to Lance’s side “Lance, do you want me to go let the other’s know you’re awake?” He asks. Lance turns and exerts a nod.

“Yeah, I could really go for some good ol’ space family affection right now”.

With a little chuckle, Keith gets up and walks out of the room they were keeping Lance in, leaving Shiro sleeping in a chair next to Lance’s bed. Lance looks up at the ceiling, raising his hand in front of his view and looking it over. He lets out a somber exhale, tightening his hand to a fist and putting it back down to his chest.

Only a couple minutes later the doors smash open startling Shiro out of his sleep and Lance only has a second before Pidge is climbing onto his bed and crushing the life out of him with an intense hug. “Dammit Lance!!! We were so scared”. Lance hadn’t ever seen Pidge like this and it caught him by surprise, he smiles and wraps his arms around them. 

“I’m okay little dude, don’t worry about it”. He pats their head comfortingly and looks to the others that had entered with them, he noticed Hunk first and man did he look like a wreck. He had bags under his eyes and it looked like he’d been crying a hell of a lot. Lance notices Hunk won’t make eye contact with him and comes to a quick conclusion.

“Hunk, I know you’re probably feeling guilty and shit, but I’m giving you five seconds before I get my ass off this bed and crawl my way over there to hug you,” He says in the sternest voice he can manage.

And with that Hunk looks surprisedly at Lance and rushes over, bringing both him and Pidge into one of his signature super bear hugs. 

“Lance, I didn’t know… I’m sorry” He sobs out, Lance draws his grasp on the two tighter and smiles with a warm feeling in his chest. His family is all okay, they’re here and they care for him. 

Hunk holds Lance’s hand tight and rubs a thumb gently over his wrist, Lance was used to this motion from his closest friend and it brought a calm to his heart. Pidge sat up and gave a modest smile “You doing okay Lance?” they ask, making Lance wonder how worried Pidge had even been.

“I’ve been better, but as long as I have you guys around I think I won’t mind adjusting to this” He exclaims, reaching a hand up to ruffle up Pidge’s hair as they swat at him “H-Hey!” They manage out while giggling. 

Hunk wraps an arm under Lance and lays on his side, looking up at him with teary eyes “L-Lance… I was so scared, I didn’t know what I’d do without you man…” He says before he began to try and withhold some sobbing.

“Hunk, bud, friendo, my dude. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. Anyways, who else could be the best man at your wedding?” He chuckles out before reaching a hand over and wiping away Hunks tears. The two move quickly and trap Lance in the warmest, most wonderful bear hug ever. And he returns it with a big smile.

After about a minute he opens his eyes to see Allura walking over with Coran in quick stride behind her. She has a soft smile and a look of relief on her face when she sees the current scene.

“Lance, we are so glad to see you’re okay. We were all so worried”. She says, walking over and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Hunk and Pidge stopped their double bear hug and let Coran come forward. The mustached man had tears in his eyes and was sniffling “Lance my dear boy, It brings such joy to my heart to see you making a right swell recovery”. He leans in and gives Lance a tight hug which Lance returns, patting Coran on the back. 

“Thank you guys, all of you. I’m still really scared. But it does help to know you’ll be with me through this”. He says gratefully. The looks on the others faces changes slightly. 

Allura comes forward to speak up “About that Lance, the Vinisians discussed with us and, well… You’re going to have to be here for another month, the surgery and physical therapy will be intensive and take some time”. Lance's heart drops slightly, realizing where Allura was going with this.

“And with the war with the Galra still raging on, we really can’t afford for Voltron to be out of commission for that long. So Coran and I decided it’d be best if we left you here until you were done with the procedure, I do hope you understand”. She finishes explaining and drops her head slightly. 

The rest of the Paladins looked just about as sullen as Lance felt right now. He knew Allura was right but it still hurt. 

“You’re right Allura, the universe needs Voltron. I can manage on my own for now”. He says, hoping to brighten spirits for the others. 

“But… Lance, are you really sure?” Keith asks, looking at Lance with worry in his eyes. The rest of the Paladins wondering the same thing.

“Yeah, I promise you guys. I won’t stop thinking about you though”. He says with a big grin, making a little heart with his hands as Keith blushes and Pidge rolls off the bed making a fake gagging noise.

“Allura, is it okay if I have some time with Shiro and Keith before you all head out?”

With a small nod and a smile, Allura ushers Hunk and Pidge out who both wave to Lance. He waves back with a gleam before turning to his boyfriends. 

“Will you dorks be okay without me?” He asks with a smirk. Shiro chuckles and nods, leaning forward to kiss Lance’s forehead. 

“We’ll survive”. He mutters to Lance before leaning back.

“But just barely”. Keith adds, smirking at Lance.

He spends a few more minutes saying his goodbyes before Keith and Shiro walk off with the rest of the Paladins, leaving Lance in solitude with a couple of Vinisian nurses watching over him. The silence wraps around Lance, the only thing he could hear was the machines they had plugged him back up to after everyone had left. 

A month? Could Lance really make it that long without having the rest of the team around to make banter with? He missed them already, his heart sunk as he pulled the sheets up over himself and sighed, staring ahead at the blank walls. 

He knew it was an awful idea to let his thoughts wander to awful conclusions. But he felt an ache in his chest when he tried ignoring all the negativity flooding his consciousness. He could already feel the familiar sting of warm tears streaking down his face. He held it in like always, not wanting to bother anyone with his pathetic demeanor. 

He closed his eyes and brought himself back down to a point, breathing in and out. He remembers all the techniques his therapist back on Earth taught him but he finds it so hard to take action and actually do the things to make things easier. He turns and sees a bottle of pills on the table with a note.

‘To help with the pain’ the note reads, it wasn’t there before so Lance assumed one of the nurses had left it there while he had been out of it. He read the bottle which had some pictures explaining how many to take, and he followed the instructions. 

He laid back and drank some water they had left with him. He stared up at the ceiling and felt any of his pains numbing, he didn’t feel better. But maybe it was better to feel nothing instead.


	4. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is left to think. Everything feels so numb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates may be slow, struggling with finding people to give me feedback before I post the chapters.
> 
> I'm adjusting to new medication. My writing skills are in a hard spot right now until I adjust to them.

 

Dull. That’s the only thing that could describe his first few days here. The Vinisians went over the procedures and medications, they made sure his wounds had entirely healed and gave Lance reading material about the therapy he would be undergoing after the surgery. 

 

The meds had certainly made everything easier. Though he felt as if they were stripping him of his emotions, and he had stopped dreaming. Lance always remembered his dreams being so vivid and colorful, even in his nightmares they were so alive. 

 

He had been given access to a wheelchair for the time being and was allowed to wheel himself around the hospital, just to make sure he wasn’t too cooped up at least. Pidge had left their music player with him and it gave him some semblance of comfort to carry it around with him, he replayed certain songs over and over while he stared out the windows to the wild cityscape. 

 

Before he knew it the days had passed, his surgery was tomorrow. He rubbed over the scars, trusting that this wouldn’t hinder him from his full potential as a Paladin of Voltron. He couldn’t let anything keep him from helping others, he needed to protect his family. Lance picked up some reading material about the surgeries they performed here. He found a nice spot and distracted himself with it.

 

Telepathic Implants? ‘Too creepy’, Mechadendrites? ‘What did that even mean?’, Ocular Implants? ‘... Interesting’. Lance read up on the many uses of eye implants, realizing just how useful these might be to his skills, and to Voltron. He got himself over to one of the personal nurses that followed him around. 

 

“Uh, hey there!” he tries to grab their attention, the Vinisian looks at him and nods. Lance shows them the pamphlet, pointing towards the Ocular implants and then to himself, only hoping that the point got across. The Vinisian nods again, taking the pamphlet from him and taking it away to a counter while they talked to a doctor.

 

The doctor walked over with the nurse after a couple minutes. Lance was handed some papers which he read over quickly. Just a bunch of consent stuff, he signed off wherever he needed to and handed them back. He yelped a little as the nurse started wheeling him back to his room. The nurse places down a bottle of pills, walking out after she makes sure that Lance takes them.

 

He feels his himself getting woozy and lays down, pulling up the thin blankets. Everything will be okay, everything will be fine. His dreams are vivid, he sees people he remembers. People from the garrison, they walked around him like he didn’t exist. Lance got on his knees and cried, he pulled at his hair while sobbing. 

 

He saw Hunk, he was walking next to Pidge and they were laughing. Why wasn’t he there? He was always clinging to Hunks side wherever they went. They walked right past him, he saw them talking to Keith. The three laughed and walked off without him.

 

The ground crumbled around him, he begins falling. The air rushes past him before he slams into the ground and he screams in pain. He got up, suddenly there was a * **Woosh*** And a Lion flew past him. The rest followed behind, all of them were there. Even Blue was flying alongside Black, without him piloting though. In his head, he began to hear the Paladins talking.

 

“Good job Allura! You’re a natural. Have you gotten a handle on the weaponry yet?” He hears Shiro calling out.

 

“I believe so! It’s quite simple, even a baby Altean could do this.” She retorts before doing a few flips.

 

“Just be careful, can’t be having any more accidents.” Keith states.

 

Everything went black again, laughing started all around him. The voices were laughing at him now, they knew how pathetic he felt. 

 

Voices repeated all around him “You deserve this, you did this to yourself, you don’t deserve them.” He got up and started running, nothing was moving. Everything had gone bright white and the voices got louder. “You’re all alone, no one loves you!” He tried shouting, tried to tell them to shut up. Why wouldn’t they just stop, he clutched his head and fell to his knees.

 

“Sharpshooter?” He hears as a hand clasps onto his shoulder.

 

* **Gasp! Huff huff, pant*** Lance jolts up, startling a Vinisian next to him. He glances around and rubs his hands against his eyes. Glancing over at the Vinisian he notices they have a message. He takes it and thanks the Vinisian before he reads it over.

 

‘Surgery is ready, inform us when you are ready for it.’

 

He stares at the words, wishing there was another way for this to happen. He puts it down and presses a notification on the screen. He lays back and waits, some robotic looking guys walk in with a stretcher. They place him on it gently and start pushing him to the destination. “The sedative was applied ahead of time, it will take effect in a few minutes.” One of the drones said in a static voice. Lance closed his eyes and thought to himself.

 

He thought of his friends, his Lion, his boyfriends. Everything flooded his mind as he drifted away, back into the darkness. 


End file.
